Azkaban
|Owners = Ministry of Magic |Inhabitants = * Convicted criminals * Dementors |Employed = * Dementors * Aurors }}Azkaban was a wizarding prison that served England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. It housed convicted criminals who used to be guarded by Dementors. About Found on an unplottable island never recorded in any wizard or Muggle documentation, it used to be the fortress of a Dark wizard, Ekrizdis. It had concealment spells defending it but they eventually faded It was guarded by Dementors for nearly four-hundred years until the end of the Second Wizarding War. They induced despair in prisoners until they gave up hope. For short and long-term prisoners, their health deteriorated until they were completely insane. Rubeus Hagrid could remember how it felt long after he left. The prisoners were the food source of the Dementors and there were calls for it to be improved, but the Dementors were kept because Azkaban had a zero-breakout rate for centuries. During the Second Wizarding War, the Dementors joined the Death Eaters and abandoned the prison. There were four breakouts before then and confidence in Dementors decreased. Azkaban was eventually purged of Dementors, who were replaced by Aurors instead. In 1717, use of any of the Unforgivable Curses had an immediate life sentence in Azkaban unless it was done under the control of the Imperius Curse or under the permission of the government (e.g. Aurors had permission during the First Wizarding War to use these curses to subdue Death Eaters). History Ekrizdis was a Dark wizard who founded the fortress and lured people to it before torturing and killing them. After he died, the Ministry of Magic found it and saw that it was infested by Dementors. It was then probably unchecked for decades until the International Statute of Secrecy called for a large-scale, hidden prison. It became a prison when Damocles Rowle was elected Minister for Magic in 1718. He thought the location was suitable and the Dementors would save time, expense and lives if employed guards. It worked because they were supplying food to the Dementors. But when Eldritch Diggory was elected Minister for Magic in 1733 until 1747, he saw what life in the prison entailed and he was shocked at the despair and . He wanted to improve it and find a better solution to using Dementors. However, people feared what would happen if Dementors were deprived of their food source and plans were scrapped when Diggory suddenly died of the Dragon Pox. During the First Wizarding War, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (Barty Crouch Snr.) would not give suspected Death Eaters a trial and sentenced people to Azkaban before they had the chance to manipulate the court and feign being under the Imperius Curse. However, a lot of innocents were wrongfully imprisoned in Azkaban because it. An Auror, Alastor Moody was thought to have filled half the cells in Azkaban because he was successful at capturing Death Eaters. But Azkaban's success rate began to fail because of the Second Wizarding War and four breakouts proved Dementors were not a valuable defence in the end. Crouch Snr. had sentenced Barty Courch Jr. to Azkaban during the First Wizarding War but Mrs Crouch begged him to save their only child. He eventually agreed and snuck her in and through Polyjuice Potion, he switched her and their son and kept him locked up at home until he escaped. In 1993, Black escaped Azkaban in Animagus form causing a three-year search. He was wrongfully imprisoned because Crouch Snr.'s would not give him a trial. In 1996, the Dementors began to revolt because Voldemort was able to provide a better food source. It enabled 13 Death Eaters to breakout including Bellatrix Lestrange. In 1997, another Death Eater breakout was covered up by the government for political reasons. The Dementors abandoned the prison completely and fought for the Death Eaters in pivotal fights including the Battle of Hogwarts. In 1997-1998, a Death Eater controlled government sentenced innocent Muggle-born and supporters of Harry Potter to Azkaban. At the end of the Second Wizarding War, a lot of Death Eaters and their supporters, including Ministry workers who helped them control the government during the war, were sentenced to Azkaban. Kingsley Shacklebolt revolutionised Azkaban and purged it of Dementors because of their untrustworthy actions. They were replaced by Aurors who took turns patrolling the prison before doing fieldwork. Under Shacklebolt's new security, there were no further breakouts. Known prisoners Notes and sources Category:Wizarding world locations